Hands-On Review: Edumatch SCORE and Pro
Edumatch Inc. offers two new services that will revolutionize the way schools and districts navigate the troubled waters of budget crises, as well as state and federal mandates. The first service, called Edumatch SCORE, helps schools "unlock" the real value of the curriculum software they already own. Edumatch takes lists of schools' curriculum software and provides a detailed analysis of how well every state standard is addressed by each piece of software in their current inventories, with an unbiased rating of all matches. Subsequent reports highlight the standards for which there is no good software coverage and recommend favorable matches. The reports also describe the features of every school-owned software title, guiding teachers toward effective curriculum integration and helping schools learn to take full advantage of what they have. This allows schools to focus new expenditures on areas that need remediation and concentrate their staff development activities on the software that teachers should be encouraged to use. The reports also help schools justify past purchases and point out areas in which they have already done an excellent job of addressing state standards.
Edumatch recommends that schools use its SCORE analyses with state test results to reveal the relationships of student achievement trends to gaps in their software coverage. This is the data schools need to demonstrate yearly progress for district report cards. Edumatch SCORE also includes a free license for Edumatch Pro, an ingenious tool for selecting and integrating curriculum software. This Web-based service makes it easy to identify curriculum software matched to the curriculum standards of any state. Users can select from an unbiased list of thousands of titles from more than 150 publishers, covering all subjects and grades. Every "found" title is presented with all of the state standards it addresses, and all matches are presented with impartial, calculated ratings. Edumatch Pro also offers useful administrative reports, including information to help teachers integrate technology into their classrooms.
Both Edumatch SCORE and Edumatch Pro are available to districts or individual schools. For more information, visit www.edumatchpro.com or call (800) 637-0047.
- Judith B. Rajala